Electoral district of Benalla

Benalla was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. The electorate covered a rural area of 17,120 km², and included the towns of Benalla, Bright, Eildon, Euroa, Mansfield, Mount Beauty, Murchison, Myrtleford, Nagambie and Violet Town. The electorate had a population of 47,675 as of the 2006 census, with 36,987 enrolled electors in the 2010 state election.

The seat was created in 1904. Historically a staunchly conservative rural district, it was held by conservative members for most of its history. It was held by various early conservative parties throughout the early 20th century, but became safe for the rural conservative National Party, which held the seat for all but nine years from 1920 to 2000.

This trend was briefly and unexpectedly broken in a 2000 by-election caused by the resignation of long-time National Party leader and former Deputy Premier Pat McNamara. In a major upset, Denise Allen became the first Labor member ever to win it. The seat's conservative nature, however, reasserted itself when Bill Sykes regained the seat for the Nationals at the 2002 election despite a landslide Labor victory which devastated the conservative parties across the state.

The seat reverted to form in the 2006 election, and Sykes held it without serious difficulty until his retirement after the 2014 election. Benalla was abolished at the same time, and was largely replaced with Euroa.

Members for Benalla

Member		Party	Term
Template:Australian party style|	John Carlisle	Liberal	1904–1909
Template:Australian party style|		Deakinite Liberal	1909–1917
Template:Australian party style|		Economy	1917–1918
Template:Australian party style|		Nationalist	1918–1920
Template:Australian party style|		Farmers Union	1920
Template:Australian party style|		Country	1920–1926
Template:Australian party style|		Independent	1926–1927
Template:Australian party style|	Edward Cleary	Country Progressive	1927–1930
Template:Australian party style|		Country	1930–1936
Template:Australian party style|	Frederick Cook	Independent	1936–1939
Template:Australian party style|		Liberal Country	1939–1943
Template:Australian party style|		Country	1943–1961
rowspan=2 Template:Australian party style|	Tom Trewin	Country	1961–1975
National Country		1975–1982
Template:Australian party style|	Pat McNamara	National	1982–2000
Template:Australian party style|	Denise Allen	Labor	2000–2002
Template:Australian party style|	Bill Sykes	National	2002–2014

Election results

Template:Election box 2pp

2010 Victorian state election: Benalla

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Bill Sykes	21,072	63.28
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Rowena Allen	6,124	18.39
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Kammy Cordner Hunt	2,756	8.28
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Rochelle Hunt	2,546	7.65
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Nicholas Williams	804	2.41
Total formal votes			33,302	95.97
Informal votes			1,398	4.03
Turnout			34,700	93.82
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Bill Sykes	24,354	73.06
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name	Rowena Allen	8,978	26.94
Template:Australian party style |	Template:Australian politics/name hold		Swing

External links

• Benalla District profile, Victorian Electoral Commission